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Thursday, June 30, 2016

TRAVEL | The Virtue of Being Good, From a Buddhist Perspective

In every backpacking trip I do, I always bump into people who are wiser and has more experience than I do. It is enlightening to listen to their stories and learn from them. Today, I am writing about my discussion with Cory, a buddhist from the US and currently based in China.

Points to Ponder

The more aware
you are of your consciousness, the less likely you can commit unwholesome
thoughts.

***

The purity of intention
defines the degree of your karmic retribution.

***

A man and a
devil was walking down the road when they saw a guy picking up a note. The man
told the devil, "hey look, he found the truth." Of which the devil
replied, "Ok, let him organize it."

***

Fear is only in
the mind and only exists if you decide to give it a form.

The Virtue of
Being Good

When religion is
confined to rituals and rites, where do we find ourselves in terms of doing
good? Is it enough that these rituals and rites are followed and practiced? Does
it necessarily mean that we are good people when we are faithful to these
rituals and practices? But what really is the end goal for believing in such
"organized" religions?

I find it
interesting to share with you the concept of "intentions" when we
discuss the subject of being a good person. It goes beyond the traditions of
organized religions[1]
which will be discussed further in this article.

How does one
become a good person, is probably one question too trivial to ask. In essence,
it is easy to be a good person. But the real question is, when are good deeds
considered good?

We all have questions on whether what we are doing now in this lifetime is enough?

When you commit
a good act in order to impress people and say that you are indeed a man of
virtue, does that suffice to consider you good? When you try to avoid doing
actions that could be harmful to you, but might potentially benefit others,
does that make you a good person?

The answer lies
with the nature of intention. Deep down, we know that there is a reason why we
are doing things. And depending on the nature of our intention, we can
determine if our actions are considered good.

The nature of
intention also determine our karmic retribution. It is not enough that we do
something good, for the sake of doing good. The intention has to be pure in
order to receive positive karma.

Otherwise,
karmic retribution will kick in. And by that, it will determine what your next
life will be, and which realm you will be delegated/relegated to. On the
subject of rebirth, it is important to note that man is a being is in constant
struggle and trapped in the vicious life cycle of death and rebirth. This will
only stop if nirvana has been achieved, which is quite a feat.

Somehow, our
present situation is defined by our past. Good karma will give allow a person
to be in a comfortable realm, which may or may not be blessed with material
wealth, good health, family, friends, etc. Bad karma will bestow suffering to
the person in the form of illness, physical deformity, suffering and ultimately
being reborn into a lower form of being.

In the middle of
this struggle, man reaches a level of consciousness. With experience and
maturity, a higher consciousness can be attained which will allow a man to
discern what indeed defines a good act, considering that there are grey areas
in the scheme of things.

Contentions

If a person
causes harm in order to save something, how does Karma work on this? Again we
go to the subject of intentions. I believe that so long as the intention is
pure, although results may be catastrophic, karma will be positive.

You as a Concept

Although the
past may influence your karmic present, it is important to note that we as
human beings do not exist and not bound to conform to socially structured
beliefs. Our body is nothing but a mix of different organ system, and this is
not who we are. Our names are arbitrarily given to us by our parents and do not
in any sense define who we are. Thus, our actions may be considered as unique
and not shadowed by our past actions. If we do something now, then it was made
out of a unique instance and has never been done yet.

Another example
is a car. A car is not a car, but metals and rubber pieced together. We decided
to call it a car. But I can call it "ves" if I wanted to, only it was
not the agreed term and concept. Remove the agreement and everything loses its
prescribed meaning.

So in essence,
man is like an empty room; just total and complete darkness. Soon as the lights
are switched, furniture assembled, interior designed, locks placed- the empty
room has already become a room of struggle.

Limits

Intentions may
be pure, but as human beings we are limited as to what we can do for ourselves
and others. So the intentions will have to be weighed in against your capacity
as a human being. For example, you can give one homeless man food. But you
cannot feed a whole community because your resources are limited. Despite the
fact that you cannot act on your pure intentions to end hunger, you have worked
your best on one homeless man and this in turn will have positive karma.

Now why is the
subject of intention, important?

This is because
as human beings, I want to reiterate that we are reincarnated (if there's such
a thing) because there is a purpose. And that every second that we breathe is
part of a larger plan weaved by the Universe to maintain order. And that for every action that we do, there
are always consequences to ensure that the balance is leveled.

This is also
important because it will affect the outcome of our life. Negative intentions
tend to open up doors to more negative thoughts. Think of it as a domino
effect. You push one block of negative thought and the rest are likely to be
affected. So in essence, if negative intentions are minimized (if not halted)
then life will be more peaceful.

The only
challenge with this is that you have to make sure that you make a conscious
effort to block the impure intentions, so you keep the rest of evil thoughts
from coming in.

Meditation and
Retreat

In order to find
a deeper consciousness, it is advised to practice meditation. This can be done
through self meditation or with the help of a meditation expert in a retreat
house. Typically, you have to wake up at 4am to practice body awareness coupled
with the vow of silence. This is a time to assess yourself and understand more
about your physical body as well as achieve a higher sense of consciousness.

[1]
Organized religion is defined as social organizations with structured practices
and rituals which are followed by its members and passed down from generation
to generation.

About Me

Allan Yasser Zeta Abdula has been blogging since 2007 and enjoys discussing issues that matter to highly active social media users. His blog entries cover topics from academic to trivial everyday musings of the mind. Over the years, he has been tapped by several brands like Havaianas, InterNations, Expat Blog, Latin Dance Muscat, etc. to provide content articles for products and events. Furthermore, he has shared write ups to others blogs such Blabber Blogger and Jerald Uy.

When not busy writing, he works on his other passion- photography and dancing. He also conducts outdoor shoots for aspiring models; and teaches salsa dance to social dancers. He envisions himself being a renowned portrait photographer, and at the same time salsa guru in the Philippines.